Case 04 / 062026

Current Logger

Records transmit bursts during battery tests. Triggers on current level and stops when the peak drops by a configured amount.

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The problem

Product lifetime was an estimate nobody could show you, because measuring it meant watching an instrument for two days.

Overview

A battery- or HLC-powered unit transmits on a fixed interval, and the question is how many of those transmits it has left. The logger arms on a current-level trigger so it never has to predict when a burst happens - it waits, captures, records the peak, and repeats until the peak has fallen a configured amount below the first capture.

Every capture is written as its own CSV inside a run folder that is never overwritten, and the browser viewer plays back a finished run as easily as it watches a live one. Two tests share the same shape: transmit current on a Keysight N6781A, and transmit power on an R&S FSC3 over SCPI.

What it does

  1. 01Current-level trigger: no prediction of when the device transmits
  2. 02Stop condition in dB below the reference capture, configurable
  3. 03Live view and saved-run browser over the same WebSocket API
  4. 04Every run folder immutable: config, summary, result, per-capture CSV
  5. 05General-purpose instrument panel with markers, RBW/VBW and an SCPI console
  6. 06Subnet and ARP scanners for finding an analyzer that will not announce itself

Screens

Current Logger reference setup with message interval, trigger level, and reference controls, shown with hardware disconnected
Current Logger reference setup with message interval, trigger level, and reference controls, shown with hardware disconnected